Apparatus for discharging the contents of containers



M. JEGGE Jan. 17, 1961 APPARATUS FOR DISCHARGING THE CONTENTS oF CONTAINERS Filed Oct. 51, 1958 INVENTOR. MAX JEGGE 54kATTORNEYS MMU APPARATUS Fon DrscHARGnvG THEl eoNrnNrrs: F eonrnnfznksv r RemisSwitzerland, assignon to,

Enea. 31,19ss,ser. No. 111,044 arreso.. wordt 1. ort

'z (ci. 214-315),

Rod storage arid wh ing veli orma has thrdiradiiantaro th'a't 'th ask rpst. in "addition` to` being tilted by :all rder to 1 thv f, t

a container,

Fig. 2 .ghowsy aprontelevation of and apparatusv sh Fig. 3 shows mechanism, ,forltilting the. container, and

Fig, .shawsiho means for. holdingthe container. In Fig. 1 is shown a fork lift truck provided with an apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention. ,The means for driving the truck is arranged within a truck housing 1 which runs on three or four wheels 2. Above the housing 1 is a seat 3 for the operator and a steering wheel 4 and the usual operating levers 5 etc. At the front of the truck is a standard 7 upon which a travelling carriage 8 is hydraulically movable at least in a vertical direction. Normally there are provided on the travelling carriage of such a fork lift truck forks (not shown) to receive goods to be conveyed. Instead of these forks, there is provided on the carriage 8 an apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention, which includes a plate-like member 10 connected to the carriage 8 and a plate-like member 11 is provided at its front side with laterally adjustable holding clamps 12 for holding a cask 13 as shown.

Eig. 2 shows a front elevation of the truck and tilting e driving ,y United States Patent O N 2,968,411 Patented Jan. 17, 1961 apparatus. In front of the truck housing 1 is the standard 7fon which the member 10 is xed'at about half the height of the standard. On the member 10 is mounted the member 11`which is rotatable about an axis 15 and is lshown tilted at nearly The member 11 has xed thereto four clamps 12I for holding the cask.

"Rotation of the member 11 relatively to the member 1-0 serves for discharging the contents of the cask 13, andis effectedI bymeans ofY a driving mechanism mounted on the member 11 in the apparatus illustrated. In accordance with the invention the axis of rotation 15, is at least approximately coincident with the portion of the opening of the cask 13, from which the contents are discharged. In this manner it is ensured that during the gradualA emptying of the cask the liquid contents thereof are continuously discharged from approximately the same position. For the purpose of illustration the liquid is shown as being charged into the opening 18 of a reaction vessel 19.

Advantageously, the axis of rotation is disposed laterally of the centre of the truck, so that during transport the cask is approximately on the centre line of the truck, that is to say, the cask does not project on either side of the truck. Furthermore, the cask vcari be brought from one side very closeto the charging opening of the vessel to be charged.

TheV advantages of. such an arrangement are easy tosee. Due to the fact:V that the tilting axis during discharging is substantially coincident with the discharging portion of tho opening. of the Cask, the contents. are discharged throughout front. practically. the same. position until tho cask. is completely empty, without requiring .any Snooiol attention from the operator or necessitating"any'further movement o f the truck or the apparatus.' In tho Caro of the known apparatus horoirrboforo described, inJ which the axis otrotation approximately oo irrodos., with tho centre of the cask, tho Point of discharge rrlovosl latorolly `during thenouring operation to an extent whioh depends on the inclination of the cask Thor,4 when the rorrtorts are to b e discharged from such an apparatus into the charging opening, of another vertel, .it is rter .Y 'to carry. out ai lateral movement in addition tooltlrs the todov Thisnocorritator an additional, difficult manipula tion. of tho apparatus during. discharging., and, it this, is dono bx morire the truck itself, cannot be carried out. ia a. rostrictedspto- The. looatior of the tilting @2dr lateral- 1y, of vthe oetre of tho truck also has. tho, adi/arreso that the operator, while sitting onv the seat 3g, can look past one side of the standard 7 and observe the entire charging operation. i

Fig. 3 s hovvs the driving mechanism whichA is,4 mounted on thorotdtblo mombfor 1.1 'for t. ring tho oath In order tol Poct the driving mechanismfrorn. dirt and damage it ir orlolosod vrithtrrfal oioal AS Shown il? Fia, 3 lo front 'side ofthe "casing has been omitted to Vreveal the driving mechanism. A wheel 20 projects into the casing and is iixed to the non-rotatable member 10. This wheel serves as a non-rotatable take-up wheel for a device described below. A chain or cable 21 passes round the wheel 20 and is lixed to the wheel, for example, by means of an eye 22 and a pin 23. One end portion of the chain 21 passes over a pulley 24 and is fixed at its end to the member 11 by means of a lug Z6. The other end portion ofthe chain 21 passes over the guide roll 2-8 and a pulley 25, and is fixed at its end to the member 11 by means of a lug 29. The pulleys 24 and 25 are connected together by means of a link 30 which is connected to the working piston of a double acting hydraulic working cylinder 31. When the liquid is supplied to one or other side of the pistonn the cylinder 31 the piston and the link 30 move to the right or left. In this manner the chain lengths extending between the wheel 2 0 and the lug 29 and be 3- tween the wheel 20 and the lug 26 change in opposite senses. Since the take-up wheel is lixed, the aforesaid change in lengths causes the whole assembly including the member 11 to rotate about the axis 15 of the wheel 20 and thus perform the tilting movement described above. The clamps I2 on the lower portion of the member 11 are also operated hydraulically. In the apparatus shown the driving mechanism for causing the tilting action is mounted on the member 11 carrying the cask. It will be understood, however, that the driving mechanism may be provided on the stationary member 10. However, the arrangement of the driving mechanism on the member ating the clamps that the clampsuoneach side can be carrying the cask, as shown, saves space and also renders chain relative to the take-up wheel and the two pulleys 24 and 25 that all four of the portions of the chain extending from the pulleys are parallel with one another. The result of this is that the total length of the chain between the two lugs 29 and 26 remains constant irrespective of the movement of the pulleys, whereby a positive connection between the plate-like members is achieved. Accordingly, there is no undesired lost motion during the tilting of the cask in an upward or downward direction. The guide roll 28 may be replaced by a resilient connection between the chain and one or both of the lugs 26 and 29. In this case, however, the positive connection between the two plate-like members becomes a resilient connection, which is especially undesirable when heavy containers are to be handled.

It will be understood that the invention is not limited 'to the construction shown in the drawings, and that any other driving mechanism may be used for tilting the member 11 relatively to the member 10. For example, instead of the mechanism comprising the chain and pulleys, there may be used a toothed rod operated by the hydraulic cylinder, which rod engages teeth on the -take-up'whe'el. However, as compared with such an arrangement, the mechanism shown in Fig. 3 has the advantage that, owing to the block-and-tackle type of action of the pulleys 24 and 25 the stroke of the piston of the cylinder 31 is half of that required by the toothed rod construction, and that no outwardly projecting parts, such as toothed rods or pistons, are required. The tipping action can also be produced by means-of a worm drive operated by an electric motor or internal combustion engine. However, having regard to the greater compactness of the hydraulic drive for a given power output, the mechanism illustrated in Fig. 3 occupies considerably less space.

In general the clamps 12 for holding the cask are movable on both sides of the cask so that the latter can 'i always be held in a central position with respect to the truck. This has the advantage of aiording maximum stability to the truck during its travel. It is, however,

more advantageous so to construct the mechanism opermoved independently of each other in a lateral direction for gripping the container, so that containers of dierent sizes can be held and also held in such a position that the discharging portion of the opening of the cask coincides with the tilting axis 15. This is'shown diagrammatically in Fig. 4. l

For example, when a larger cask 40 is .to be discharged it is held on both sides by means of the clamps 41 and 42, and the cask is positioned approximately centrally with respect to the truck. The discharging portion 43 of the opening 44 of the cask coincides with the tilting axis 15. .When a smaller cask 46, shown in brokenl lines,is to be discharged, the clamps 42 are left in their -extreme position and the cask 46 is held in position merely by moving the clamps 41 to the position shown in broken lines. In this manner the dischargingportion 47 of the opening of the cask 46 likewise coincides with the tilting axis 15.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for discharging the contents j of oontainers, especially for use with fork lift trucks, which comprises a main frame, holding means on said main frame for a container with an opening having a discharge lip, elevating means on said main frame for effecting a linear vertical movement of the holding means relative to the main frame, tilting means on said main frame for electing a tilting movement of said holding means, said tilting means comprising two plate-like members one of which is rotatable relatively to the other and carries the container holding means and a driving mechanism comi prising a take-up wheel non-rotatably fixed tol one of the plate-like members and, mounted on the other plate-like member, a double-acting working cylinder, a pair of pulleys connected to the piston of the cylinder, and'a chain or cable which passes round and Iis fixed between its ends to the take-up wheel, and of Vwhich 'one of, the two end portions passes round one of thefsaid pulleys` and the other endjportion round the', other,pulley and then each end is iixed to the last mentioned plate-like member, the holding means being positioned relative to the tilting axis of said tilting means so that the tilting axis passes through a point at which the discharge lip of the container is positioned when it'is held in said holding means.

2. Apparatus as claimed in claim l, 4wherein one end portionof the chain or cable also' `passes round4 a guide roll, andthe take-up wheel, guide roll and pulleys are lso disposed relatively to one another that all the po'tions-f vthe, chain or cable extending from the two pulleys'fare parallel with one another.

References Cited in the'file of thisv patent Wilson Aug. 30, 1955 

